Simon Davies Career Guidance

About Me

Hi my name is Simon Davies.
Before I
became qualified and began providing career change advice in the Gold Coast area, I had my own career-life search.

I was sitting in my first floor office in Colombo St, when I had a life changing moment

I had worked in a number of jobs and then
at the age of twenty-three I started my own business; a two-store video rental business which I owned for seven years.

This was in the early 1980's just when videos were getting going and the business became quite successful.

Coming from a family that never had much money (six kids), I now found myself with more money than I knew what to do with.

Although being self-employed was my most enjoyable role up to that point, I had become unfulfilled and a bit frustrated in work and in life.

What Did I Want to Achieve In Life

I began to think long and hard about what it was that I really wanted to achieve in my life.

Success in business had allowed me to obtain many of the material things that an average 28 year old would want, including a freehold house and money to spend on my expensive hobby (motor sport).

Then one day in May 1990, I was sitting in my first floor office in Colombo St, when I had a life changing moment.

I had just completed a review of a SMI goal setting program when I began to realise that I had now achieved many of the relatively ambitious goals that I had set.

Most of my goals related to growing my business, getting more money and material possessions into my life and achievements associated with motor sport.
But as I reviewed my goals I felt something wasn't quite right.

My Turning Point

As I thought about what I had achieved, I began to become increasingly frustrated.

The frustration grew and grew to a point where I began to ask the question

"What is success in life all about?"

I soon realised that any number of these goals on their own, were not going to bring me the fulfilment I was looking for.

I was now aged 30 and I was in the early stages of a total paradigm shift in my philosophy towards success in work and life.

I felt I had wasted a lot of years chasing things that I thought would bring greater satisfaction than they actually did.

This was not to say that I hadn't enjoyed these things, having money and the things it could buy and the choices it can offer.

It's just that I thought they would bring me the happiness and contentment I was looking for, but they had not delivered on those expectations.
I had been placing too much emphasis on money and material possessions at the expense of other areas of my life.
It's not that I thought having these things was bad, to the contrary, they had provided opportunities and experiences that I would not otherwise have had. But for me, the pursuit of them held promises of a level of fulfilment that didn't materialise.

Over the following weeks and months, I pondered about:

What is it in life that I really wanted to achieve?

What one thing, that when I get to the end of my days on earth, I will be able to say with absolute conviction:
"I'm glad I dedicated my life to doing that".

Around this time in my life another significant event occurred - the death of my father.

Some Good In The The Bad

After his death I was having a discussion with one of his friends when he uttered what he would probably regard as a throw away comment.

But it was a comment that stuck in my mind and has impacted my life since.

"Your father missed his calling
He should have been a motivator of people. He was so good at encouraging others and supporting them in their dreams and endeavours in life"

I knew that what he said was true about my father, but I also felt that it was true of me.

I started on a journey which helped me confirm that one of my inborn job skills (abilities that each person is born with and are innately drawn to use) was to help others reach their maximum potential in life.

This same journey also caused me to think about the spiritual aspects of my life and how God and work might be linked.

A short time later I began an eighteen month self-study program on how to find your optimal job.

This was followed by the setting up of a business that taught this material to groups and individuals.

I then completed my qualifications in career guidance, a Diploma in Career Counseling and Cerificate in Vocational Assessment in New Zealand.

For more than a decade I have spent a good part of my working life in career guidance in New Zealand and now on the Gold Coast.

I have worked with individuals, groups and corporate clients including New Zealand's largest company (at the time) in the career guidance field, helping people discover how to find a job that's right for them.

If you would like to find out more about my one-on-one career guidance services, please see my career services page.

Face-to-face career guidance on the Gold Coast is held at my Robina home office.

I live in Gold Coast, Australia
with my wife Allanah and seven
children aged between 4-17 years.

Simon Davies Career Guidance
Gold Coast AustraliaCareer Guidance Qualifications:
Diploma in Career Counselling,
Certificate in Vocational Assessment
Past professional memeber of Career
Development Association of New Zealand
(Formely Career Practioners Association of New Zealand)